Samuda: preparations on target for 2022 Commonwealth Games as Baton touches down
Published:Sunday | April 17, 2022 | 12:10 AMDaniel Wheeler - Staff Reporter
Jamaica Olympic Association president Christopher Samuda says preparations are on course for the Commonwealth Games this summer in Birmingham, England.
Samuda was speaking at Friday’s Queen’s Baton Relay ceremony at the Norman Manley International Airport yesterday. The Queen’s Baton’s arrival in Jamaica marks the 51st stop, with all 72 Commonwealth territories slated for visits.
The Queen’s Baton arrived from the Cayman Islands and made stops around the island yesterday, including the University of Technology, the Usain Bolt Track at the University of the West Indies, and Emancipation Park. It is scheduled to finish its three-day tour at locations such as the Spanish Town Cathedral and Donald Quarrie High School today.
Samuda says there are plans in place for this year’s staging of the Commonwealth Games to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Jamaica’s Independence.
“Birmingham is an epicentre for the diaspora and therefore there is a lot of interest in the Games. From a logistic and administrative point of view, we are quite prepared for the Games and we will roll out as we did in the Gold Coast (Australia 2018), and we are hoping that the results are again historic,” Samuda told The Sunday Gleaner.
Olympian Donald Quarrie is the featured baton bearer and Samuda said that having the baton at the school named after him is a way to share his legacy with the current generation.
DISTINGUISHED
“Donald Quarrie is a distinguished Olympian and he did very well at the Commonwealth Games. So we are going to go to Donald Quarrie High where we will celebrate his history, his successes with the present generation,” Samuda said.
Samuda says that the showing of the baton is an important part of the history of the Commonwealth Games and that it was important for Jamaicans to understand that history.
“What we will be doing is exposing the baton, as the Commonwealth Games has dictated, to the people, because that is really the primary objective of the baton visiting the various Commonwealth nations, to expose it to a cross section of people so that they can experience it and be a part of the history of the Games,” Samuda said.
“It not only represents the hope of mankind, but also the camaraderie of sport and sports diplomacy.”
The Queen’s Baton comes to Jamaica at a time when the 2022 Carifta Games are on at the National Stadium. The Games are the first regional meet in two years, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.